Ites, Ers and Ians?
March 24th 2007 04:20
I've posted an article on Quazen called Crowl or Crawl?, and I'm mentioning it here because it's very much in line with the direction I'm planning to take with this blog...that is, it relates to words and their uses, and to wordplay. I discovered, one day when trawling the blog world, that many people thought my name, Crowl , is the correct spelling for the word, crawl. Maybe it's the way it's pronounced in some parts of the world. Anyway, the article shows what happens when your command of English is somewhat less than it should be.
Okay, what have all these got in common? They're all nouns derived from place names in New Zealand, and they're intended to describe the inhabitants of those towns. But what 'rules' cause us to say Dunedinite rather than Dunediner? Or Wellingtonian rather than Wellingtonite? I suspect there are no rules, and we just play this word game by ear. And even then there may be some disagreement about what to call an Aucklander or Invercargillite. And what are these suffixes, anyway? What's an 'ite' when it's at home, or an 'er'? Does anyone know any real 'ians'?
I know they're not uncommon suffixes, but where do they come from in the first place? Might be something worth pursuing. No doubt someone will know!
I found a blog called Dunedinite.43 people just now. It seems to have been started but not taken any further.
And an even more strange blog apparently run by the same girl, if the Google images are anything to go by, where there seems to be nothing but a rather long 'poem' on the subject of spare parts, called, appropriately, but not particularly grammatically, enough: spare parts. All about of spare parts.
Dunedinites
Invercargillites
Wellingtonians
Cantrabrians
Aucklanders
Hamiltonians
Oamaruvians
Timaruvians
West Coasters
Invercargillites
Wellingtonians
Cantrabrians
Aucklanders
Hamiltonians
Oamaruvians
Timaruvians
West Coasters
Okay, what have all these got in common? They're all nouns derived from place names in New Zealand, and they're intended to describe the inhabitants of those towns. But what 'rules' cause us to say Dunedinite rather than Dunediner? Or Wellingtonian rather than Wellingtonite? I suspect there are no rules, and we just play this word game by ear. And even then there may be some disagreement about what to call an Aucklander or Invercargillite. And what are these suffixes, anyway? What's an 'ite' when it's at home, or an 'er'? Does anyone know any real 'ians'?
I know they're not uncommon suffixes, but where do they come from in the first place? Might be something worth pursuing. No doubt someone will know!
I found a blog called Dunedinite.43 people just now. It seems to have been started but not taken any further.
And an even more strange blog apparently run by the same girl, if the Google images are anything to go by, where there seems to be nothing but a rather long 'poem' on the subject of spare parts, called, appropriately, but not particularly grammatically, enough: spare parts. All about of spare parts.
| 43 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
